Bible Reading: Romans 3:21-26

"Can I crack the eggs?" Penelope asked as her mom started blending the butter and sugar.

"Sure," Mom said, and as each egg was added, she beat it into the cookie dough. "Now we need to add flour, baking soda, and salt."

"I can do that," said Penelope. She carefully measured the flour into a bowl, then added the baking soda and salt. She looked down at the bowl in surprise. "I thought flour was supposed to be white."

"It looks white to me," said Mom.

"But look," said Penelope. "The baking soda and salt are on top of the flour, and they're really white. They make the flour look almost gray."

"That's true," Mom said as she stirred the ingredients together. "Penny," she said after a moment, "if I said the flour is like us and the baking soda is like God, what do you think I'd mean?"

Penelope thought for a moment. "I'd think you weren't making any sense," she said with a grin.

Mom smiled. "When I saw those ingredients together and the difference in color, it occurred to me that we often think we're decently good people. But compared to what God says, we don't look so good."

"I think I get it," said Penelope. "Compared to the baking soda, the flour isn't very white. And compared to how the Bible says we should live, we're not very good at all."

"That's right," Mom said as she dropped spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheet. "The only person to ever live up to the Bible's standards was Jesus, the Son of God. He lived a perfect life, then died to take the punishment for our wrongs. When we trust in Him, He replaces our sin with His righteousness--His goodness--and makes us pure in God's eyes. If this baking soda could turn all the flour in this bowl pure white, that would be like what Jesus does for us."

"These cookies will remind me of that," said Penelope, putting a tray in the oven. "So I should eat lots of them, right?" Mom laughed and gave her a playful jab.

–Pauline Youd